Ristorante Luce — Restaurant in Hamden

My husband and I went to Luce last night for dinner. We were seated by a hostess, and the the waitstaff immediately filled out water glasses and gave us bread. The waiter was soon to follow with the specials of the evening. We ordered a caprese salad for our appetizer (not realizing that a salad came with our meals). The caprese as well as the other salad were very good, fresh, and had good seasoning. Next came the entrees, I was very happy with mine, large rigatoni with sausage and hot peppers (took half home!), my husband had the scallops with fettucine in a pesto sauce. While my husband was happy with the amount of scallops, it looked like the pasta portion was a bit small, when asked, the waiter came out with a side of the same pesto pasta, no questions asked. I had a glass of wine, but my husband had a soda. We were attended to by the entire waitstaff without feeling bothered. There were other diners, but it was not too loud, quite a pleasant Saturday night. My husband and I don't often go out to eat, just because we feel we can make better at home (for much less!), so it's always nice to have a great meal, in a comfortable atmosphere. It's pretty pricey for what we had ($75.00+), which is another reason we don't eat out...

In my 74 years of restaurant dining experience I have never encountered treatment as rude, inconsiderate, and unprofessional as that which Lucè demonstrated. I made reservations 2 months in advance of a family birthday celebration for my 2 daughters, and the night prior to our dinner I called to confirm the arrangements. The person I spoke with assured me that there would be a "special" table for 7 in the lower main section ready at 7:00 PM. All 7 of our party were there at 7:03......but there was NO table available, although the host acknowledged the reservations were made. We waited over 30 minutes, were offered outdoor seating (it was NOT an outdoor dining evening), but despite my explanation of the care I had taken to plan this celebration, they had no table for us. The manager later offered us a table in the corner of a back room.....and that was the last insult I would tolerate. Our party left and had dinner at another restaurant 20 miles away, but well worth the drive. Lucè's food may be very good, but it is not an acceptable substitute for absolutely unacceptable customer service! ...

We have been to Luce numerous times and I very much enjoy it. However, they never change their menu. I choose no longer to go there because they haven’t figured out that they need a menu change. This menu has been ,other than some specials ,in their facility for years. It leads me to believe that the only foods that they know how to cook in the kitchen are the ones on the menu and don’t have any creativity to do something else. A restaurant needs variety. The people in the kitchen need to know how to cook variety not mimic the menu for the last 3 or so years. Another issue is the salad. You get a salad with dinner. It consists of about three pieces of lettuce an olive and one grape tomato. They also serve it with their generic boring dressing, and God forbid you ask for some other type of dressing ,they don’t offer it. I would recommend if you have to give away a salad such as this one just don’t give it away, as it is not appetizing . In summary, the restaurant is a nice looking place. The wait staff is good. The menu needs a complete redo , and the redo needs to update on a...